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CALEXICO 



KING COTTOM'S CAPITAL 



By Alkim K®1 



THERE are 1,400,000 acres of land that may be irrigated 
from the Colorado river, according to the latest report 
of Chief Engineer Rockwood of Imperial Irrigation 
District, in Imperial Valley and in Mexico. Of this great 
area, 700,000 acres are in Imperial Valley proper, 500,000 
acres in the delta of the Colorado and 200,000 acres in 
Sonora, Mexico, below the Yuma Valley. The city of 
Calexico's location on the boundary line makes nearly a 
third of the American lands and all the Mexican lands com- 
mercially tributary to that city. The fact that only about 
150,000 acres of this area of 900,000 acres have been de- 



veloped and put under canal indicates that there are great 
opportunities for investment and enterprise and that Calex- 
ico's prospects for future growth are more than encouraging. 
Her commanding position as the commercial center of a 
vast agricultural region is assured beyond dispute, rivalry or 
competition. Having the only cotton compress in operation 
west of Texas, Calexico handles all the Mexican production 
of that staple. Fifty thousand acres on the Mexican side are 
cultivated in large tracts, producing cotton, grain and alfalfa. 
All the products of the Mexican section of Imperial Valley 
are distributed to markets through Calexico, the only port 




Bales Raady ; 

for IKe 
Compress -.:■ , 

Capital- ' 



A Cotton Yard nt Ciilf.iicc 



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C A LEX I C O 




Calexico Cotlon CimS 



Collon-Seecl Oil Mill 



Tlie Upper Ki^Iit I!aii«! I'ieture m1io>V8 the earliest llnle of Cotton ever Ginned (June 17, 1914>. The other bale was grown from 

the seed of the First Bale and Ginned Oct. 15th the same Year. 



of entry of considerable importance on the international 
boundary between Nogales and the Pacific. 

The commercial importance of Calexico is indicated by the 
volume of imports and exports, which, for the month ol 
January, 1915, was nearly double that of the port of Los An- 
geles and more than three times that of San Diego. The 
principal commodity imported through Calexico is cotton, 
and because of the large quantity of the staple grown be- 
low the line and upon American lands contiguous to the 
border city, Calexico is the cotton center of the Imperial 
Valley. In relation to means of transportation, Calexico 
occupies a position of peculiar advantage. It is the south- 
ern terminus of the Southern Pacific Imperial Valley branch, 
and the western terminus of the Inter-California, which 
runs through Mexico just below the border to Yuma and 
will be the route of Southern Pacific traffic because of the 
better grade than that of the old main line between Yuma 
and Imperial Junction. Rerouting of through trains has 
been postponed because of delay in ballasting and laying of 
standard rails caused by disturbances in Mexico. The San 
Diego & Arizona, now in course of construction, will con- 
nect Calexico with the Eastern through line. Eventually a 
railroad will be built through Lower California to the head 
of navigation on the Gulf of California, making the short- 
est and most direct route from the Panama Canal to Califor- 
nia and the inter-mountain region, and the junction of such 
a line with American railroad systems must be at Calexico. 

The determining factor in the original selection of the 
site of Calexico was its location in relation to the irriga- 
tion system, being at the head of the American canals, con- 
venient to the point of control on the main supply canal, 
and a convenient trade and supply center for the settlers on 
the first lands to receive water. The headquarters of the 
California Development Co., controlling the system, were 
established and remain at Calexico. 

The builders of Calexico seem to have understood from 
the first that the process of town-building in a region whose 
resources, attractions and possibilities of development are 
solely agricultural could not be forced beyond the natural 



^: 



rate of growth without inviting reaction, disappointment and 
deflation of values. They promoted no artificial boom, made 
no effort to get so far ahead of the increase of farm popu- 
lation that the town would have to mark time and its busi- 
ness men take to swapping jack-knives while waiting for 
the country to catch up. Calexico has made no ventures in 
civic mushroom culture. 

Calexico has not been lacking in enterprise or confidence, 
but the enthusiasm of its citizens has been tempered by in- 
telligent conservatism, and they have not made the mistake, 
so common in the optimistic West, of plunging precipitate- 
ly into expensive projects of improvement or over-ambitious 
expansions of business enterprises. The city has been built 
substantially and its advancement has been steadily along 
the line of rational provision for the needs of the future. 

Doubtless this reasonable restraint of vaulting ambition, 
coupled with the peculiarly advantageous location of the 
city, explains in a measure the continuance of normal busi- 
ness conditions in Calexico during periods of general de- 
pression of trade and industry. It is a fact that the depres- 
sion following the outbreak of war in Europe, which was felt 
sharply on the Pacific coast, had but slight effect on mercan- 
tile business or building operations in Calexico. Large in- 
vestments of capital were made in cotton gins and oil mills 
after the trouble began and when the cotton market was at 
its lowest. The immunity of Calexico from "war scare" was 
noted and commented on quite generally by traveling com- 
mercial men and by bankers, who necessarily keep informed 
concerning condition in communities in which they have in- 
terests. Bank deposits and resources increased heavily dur- 
ing the year. 

All of which leads to and confirms the conclusion that 
Calexico is not a city of the mirage — an illusion created by 
heated air — but is a substantial reality, reared upon a founda- 
tion of agricultural prosperity and commercial opportunity, 
built with sound judgment and sure foresight, neither out- 
running nor lagging behind the development of tributary 
territory, and having not only possibilities but the certainty 
of great advancement. 



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C AL EX I C O 



It is not to be disputed — and nowhere is there any disposi- 
tion to question — that Calexico is to be one of the largest 
and most important of the several cities that must come into 
being in Imperial Valley as a result of the inevitable and 
great increase of rural population. 

Calexico lies at sea level on the slope, imperceptible to 
the eye, that runs northward from the highest ground in the 
delta to the Salton sink. The mountain ranges that enclose 
Imperial Valley on three sides can be seen from Calexico, 
the nearest only twenty miles to the west and seeming to 
be much nearer. The city is 267 miles from Los Angeles 
by rail, about 140 miles from San Diego, and 61 miles from 
Yuma. The Colorado river is 40 miles east of Calexico in an 
air line, and its new course through the delta is about thirty 
miles to the south. 

Mexicali, the present seat of government of the northern 
district of Baja California, having a garrison and population 
of between 3,000 and 4,000, adjoins Calexico on the soutli, 
the dividing line being marked by a ditch and a wire fence. 
Mexicali was the scene of much turbulence during the early 
days of the revolution, but is now orderly if not ostenta- 
tiously respectable. Tourists find it interesting to go across 
the line into Mexico, which is a safe and simple way of mak- 
ing a foreign tour. 



Colorado River water for municipal and domestic use is 
taken from the main irrigation canal before it reaches the 
farming lands or any possible source of pollution. Settling 
basins remove the sand and heavy silt in suspension, and a 
sand filtration plant of a million gallons daily capacity takes 
off the hne silt and leaves the water clear and pure. Pump 
and tower give a pressure of 120 pounds at the fire hydrants 
on the street mains. The city is completely piped for domes- 
tic service. The rate of consumption is 15,000,000 gallons per 
month — about 125 gallons daily per capita — the minimum rate 
is one dollar a month, the supply is unlimited and the qual- 
ity is excellent. 

Electric light and power are supplied to Calexico, as to 
all the other valley towns, by a corporation, which also oper- 
ates an ice factory and supplies the local demands of the 
valley. 

Cement sidewalks and curbs have been laid at a cost of 
$92,000, and the paving of nearly two miles of streets in the 
business district, at a cost of $150,000, is in progress under 
the provisions of the Vrooman Act. Plans for grouping pub- 
lic buildings in a civic center have been made, and steps have 
been taken to acquire seven and a half acres for that purpose, 
the tract being in the heart of the city and adjoining the 
ten-acre high school site. 



Public Utilities and Improvements 

Calexico is a city of the sixth class, incorporated, having a 
board of five trustees and the usual administrative and ex- 
ecutive officers. It comprises 150 blocks, surveyed and im- 
proved, and its population in January, 1915, exceeded 3,000. 
Like many cities and towns of the irrigated regions in the 
Southwest, Calexico has public improvements and utilities 
far in advance of communities of the same size in the older 
states and of the frontier cities and great mining camps of 
the Wild West period. It has an efficient sewer system, with 
a total length of five and a half miles, built at a cost of ^37,- 
000 and having capacity sufficient to meet requirements for 
many years to come. 



Schools and Churches 

The first school established in Imperial Valley was at 
Calexico, the school house being a "ramada," or arbor cov- 
ered with arrow weed. There are now two grammar schools 
and a union high school in the city. In January, 1915, the 
grammar schools had 450 pupils and 10 teachers, and the 
high school had 67 students and seven instructors. The Un- 
ion High School district was created in 1910 by consolida- 
tion of the Bonita and Mount Signal districts with Calexico, 
and in 1913 three students were graduated. Students living 
in the outlying districts are carried free to and from school. 
The school year is 36 weeks. The curriculum includes an- 
cient and modern languages, mathematics, the sciences, mu- 




Tempi*.' 



-City nail, (Calexico 



Calexico In Noted, Both an a BuHlncNH niid KeHidentlul City. 



C ALEXI CO 



BE. Dales HI a Calexico Garden 




CalexU'o in tlio CcmiUt 



sic, manual training, commercial law and various elective 
branches, and graduates are fitted for admission to colleges. 
A new high school building is in course of construction at a 
cost of $65,000, and later a wing will be added, bringing the 
total cost up to $80,000. The site is a ten acre tract in the 
heart of the city. Students have access to school, county and 
state libraries with a total of more than 200,000 volumes. 

There are three church buildings in Calexico; Methodist. 
Congregationalist and Catholic, and all have sites in the resi- 
dence district upon which larger buildings may be erected 
when needed. 

Civic and Social 

Two civic organizations are active in the conduct of public 
affairs in Calexico. The Woman's Improvement Club was 
organized in 1908 and has been an important factor in the 
progress of the city. The club maintains reading and rest 
rooms, library, and park, and has been diligent in promoting 
tree-planting and active in all civic and social work. It is 
making plans for the erection of a club house. 

The Farmers' & Merchants' Club, composed of farmers, 
merchants, bankers and all classes of business and profes- 
sional men. having a membership of 120. exercises the func- 
tions of a chamber of commerce or board of trade, maintains 
an office and a paid secretary, and is active and useful in 
public and business afifairs. 

Masons. Odd Fellows. Knights of Pytliias, Fraternal 
Brotherhood, Eastern Star and Reebccas have lodges, all of 
which are accommodated in a fine two-story Masonic 
Temple. 

The Cotton Capital 

Calexico, port of entry — duty free — for all cotton grown on 
the Mexican side, and commanding a large area of the best 
cotton land in the south part of the valley, has become head 
quarters of the cotton industry in Southern California. It is 
King Cotton's Imperial capital. Facilities for handling the 
crop consist of eight gins, a hydraulic compress (tlie only 
one operating in the Southwest) and two large oil mills. The 
gins and mills represent a capital investment of close to 



$500,000, half of which was made within the past year. The 
compress represents an investment of $50,000. The capacity 
of the mills is 175 tons of seed crushed per day, and the 
compress can handle 1,000 bales of cotton a day, with stor- 
age capacity and adequate fire protection for 25,000 bales. 
The gins, mills and compress employ 375 men during the 
busy season. 

During the season of 1914-15, the gins turned out 28,000 
bales and the mills crushed approximately 14.000 tons of seed, 
producing 490.000 gallons of oil, 5,600 tons of meal, 5,600 tons 
of hulls and 700 tons of linters. The oil from seed grown in 
Imperial Valley is of the highest grade produced in the 
United States, commands a premium for its quality and is 
now selling (April, 1915 )at 43 cents a gallon. That there is 
a near market for all the oil that can be produced is indi- 
cated by the importation through the port of Los Angeles of 
450,000 gallons of inferior grade oil in the year 1914. 

Cotton-seed meal and hulls have been found to be the best 
and most economical fattening food for cattle and other 
stock. A ration of 25 pounds of hulls and 5 pounds of meal 
daily adds 200 pounds to the weight of a steer in 90 days 
During the past season, 6,000 head of cattle were fed in the 
Calexico feed yards and on one of the large ranches, and 
shipped to market. Only a third of the product of the mills 
was consumed in tlie valley. 

An outside market for meal and hulls was developed in 
1914 on the sheep ranges of Idaho, Washington and other 
states of the Northwest, and the larger part of the product 
was shipped to that market. It is claimed for cotton seed 
meal that it is the best winter feed for sheep, keeping them 
in good condition, saving the lambs and increasing the wool 
clip by a considcralile percentage. Meal is now delivered in 
the Northwest at $35 a ton; meal from Texas costing $38.70 
delivered at the same points. 

Unrivalled alfalfa pasturage, great and increasing supply of 
the best fattening food and proximity to the rapidly expand- 
ing market of Southern California have commanded the at- 
tention of the big packing outfits, and it is certain that more 
large feed yards and packing houses will be added soon to 
Calexico's industrial establishment. 



CALEXIC O 



Foreign Commerce of Calexico 

That the little border city of Calexico has more commerce 
with foreign countries than any other port of California south 
of San Francisco seems an amazing, if not incredible state- 
ment, yet it is confirmed by the ofificial statistics for the first 
quarter of 1915. For the entire year 1914, Calexico was sec- 
ond only to Los Angeles in volume of foreign trade, leading 
San Diego in the proportion of three to one. 

Calexico's foreign commerce is with Mexico only. In 
1914, nearly four-fifths of all the imports from Mexico into 
Southern California came through Calexico, and nearly half 
the exports to that country. The principal imports are cot- 
ton, cattle, hides, and grain. The exports are food stuffs, 
wines and liquors, farm machinery, wagons and harness, 
mules, hardware, wearing apparel, oils and gasoline. A dep- 
uty collector and four inspectors of customs, and five offi- 
cers of the Immigration Service are stationed at Calexico. 

The following tabulation, showing the relative importance 
of the three principal ports of entry in the Southern District, 
is from the official reports of the Collector. 

Calexico 
Year Imports Exports 

1914 $1,239,865 $423,000 

1915 

January 224,309 40.307 

February 177,101 48,368 

March 143,812 151,572 

Total Quar $545,222 $240,207 

Los Angeles 

Year Imports Exports 

1914 $3,247,000 $1,183,117 

1915 

January 1 19,803 20,372 

February 115,995 44,718 

March 166,375 87,149 

Total Quar $402,173 $152,239 



San Diego 

Year Imports 

1914 $ 464,554 

1915 

January 70,790 

February 23,739 

March 61,009 

Total Quar $155,538 



Exports 
$ 88,850 

11,399 

306,257' 

6,794 

$424,450 



*Railroad construction outfit to South America and $160,000 
worth of ammunition to Mexico. 

In addition to the imports noted, 114,000 bushels of barley 
and 3,700 busliels of wheat were brought from the Mexican 
side and placed in bond in Calexico. The imports of 1914 in- 
cluded 16,382 cattle and $631,994 worth of cotton. During the 
first quarter of 1915, the imports of cotton amounted to 5,- 
229,539 pounds. 

Proofs of Progress 

Assessed valuations and postoffice receipts are two sure in- 
dices of a town's rate of growth. The following statistics 
relating to the growth of Calexico indicate steady progress 
for several years and an acceleration of the rate during the 
"war" year. 

Postoffice Assessed 

Year Receipts Valuation 

1906 $ 1,866.34 

1907 2,564,43 

1908 3,564.24 

1909 4,702.00 

1910 5,129.31 

1911 5,924.72 

1912 6,188.44 

1913 8,114.97 

1914 11,672.51 

1915 (3 months) 3,206.64 



493.000 
715,400 
799,500 
856,485 
1,072,820 
1,959,072 




SffiirN III nint A roil ml <'nI«'\"l«"o 



C A LEXI CO 



A slight increase in postal receipts is all that remains to 
entitle Calexico to free mail delivery, all other requirementb 
having been complied with, and there is no doubt that the 
city will have that service in 19IS. 

The bond debt of the city is $80,000 and the tax rate is $2 
on the thousand. 

Financial Situation 

Bank figures show the same remarkable improvement in 
business and financial conditions during the period of sup- 
posed depression. The two national banks of Calexico, with 
a capital of $100,000, had on the first of April, 1915, deposits 
aggregating $800,000. resources of $1,000,000 and surplus and 
undivided profits of $50,000. Compared with the same period 
of the previous year, the deposits had increased $125,000 and 
the resources $300,000. 

Building permits issued in 1914, covering only rough con- 
struction and taking no account of finishing work, amounted 
to $442,493. 

Calexico has several large general merchandise stores, 
dry-goods, tailor and jewelers' shops, groceries, drug stores, 
meat, vegetable and fruit markets, si.x hotels and numerous 
restaurants. There are two theatres, and a combined roof 
garden and open-air motion picture show on the top of one 
of the tallest buildings, which will be the most comfortable 
place in town on summer nights. No liquor is served or 
sold in Calexico. 

Transportation facilities, in addition to the railroads men- 
tioned, consist of connections with the state highway be- 
tween the valley and San Diego, and the Southern National 
Highway that follows the border east of Calexico and passes 
through the sand hills to Yuma, daily auto stage service to 
San Diego and hourly stages to all points in the valley. 



Recreation 

Climatic conditions in Imperial Valley encourage the out- 
door life and therefore are conducive to health. The air is 
dry and there are very few daj's in the year without sunshine. 
During eight months the weather is as nearly perfect as any 
reasonable being could desire, and during ihe other four it is 
undeniably hot, but the heat is not so oppressive as in other 
Californian valleys, where the humidity is high and cool night 
breezes are infrequent. Sunstroke and heat prostration are 
unknown. The climate of the south end of the valley and the 
Delta, moreover, is not at all the climate of the Salton sink 
and the sandhills, which constituted all of the desert of the 
Colorado known to railroad travellers a few years ago. The 
hottest summer day in Calexico is less uncomfortable than 
the average summer day in the San Joaquin Valley and is 
not to be compared at all with the sizzling and stewing 
nights that afflict the big cities of the East. 

As a winter resort. Imperial Valley is unrivalled as to cli- 
mate and opportunities for outdoor recreation and amuse- 
ment. The vicinity of Calexico is peculiarly attractive to 
sportsmen. Millions of wildfowl, including geese and more 
than a dozen species of ducks congregate here in the win- 
ter, feeding on the barley fields and resting upon the water- 
ways and lagoons of the delta. Quail, doves and rabbits are 
plentiful. In the jungles of the delta, the hunter may find 
deer, cougars, lynx, raccoons, foxes and beaver, and in the 
mountains of Lower California are many deer and Big-horn 
sheep. Laguna Salada, a lake 12 by 60 miles formed by over- 
flow waters of the Colorado in a basin between the Cocopah 
and the main coast ranges, is only twenty miles from Calex- 
ico, and is a favorite resting place for canvasback, mallard 
and other large species of ducks. 



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PROPOSED CIVIC CENTER OF CALEXICO, SHOWING GROUPING OF BUILDINGS FOR MUNICIPAL, EDUCATION 



C ALEXIC O 



Opportunities 

The most obvious opportunity for the safe and profitable 
investment of capital in Calexico is the building of houses 
for rent. There is not a vacant house or store in the city. 
The supply of good living quarters never has caught up with 
the deinand. If 200 houses of five to seven rooms were to be 
built in 1915, every one could be rented as soon as com- 
pleted. A company of "home builders" could operate profit- 
ably. Business and office buildings and an auditorium are 
needed, and a modern tourist hotel would not lack patronage. 

Gas works, furnishings fuel gas for domestic use, and an 
independent local ice factory are urgent needs. 

A cannery to take care of the great quantity of vegetables 
and fruit grown in the district would be profitable, and a meat 
packing house would increase the returns the district gets 
from the cattle, sheep and hogs raised and fattened here. 

Intensive Cultivation 

In Calexico and its suburbs, especial attention has been 
given experimental horticulture and intensive cultivation. 
Expert fruit growers have been very successful with several 
varieties and a large pear orchard of thrifty trees is one of 
the notable successes. It has been demonstrated that a plot 
of ground the size of a city lot can be made to produce a 
considerable income from small fruits. From a lot contain- 
ing less than an acre, more than $300 worth of strawberries 
have been marketed in one season. A ten-acre tract near 
the city, devoted to the growing of vegetables and requiring 
the labor of only two men. has produced a gross annual 
revenue of $4000. 

The grapefruit, or pomelo, grown in the valley is of better 



quality than that grown in the coast counties, and is ready 
for shipment at least a month earlier. The fruit is thin- 
skinned and there is so little of the "green persimmon" qual- 
ity in it that it may be picked from the tree before it has 
turned color, and eaten as oranges are eaten. No sugar 
is required in preparation of an Imperial pomelo for the 
table. 

There is but a small acreage of pomelo trees in bearing, 
but many orchards, aggregating some hundreds of acres, 
have been planted near Calexico during the past year, and 
in the near future Imperial Valley grape fruit will be pro- 
duced in shipping quantity, reaching market early and com- 
manding a special price. 

Land Values 

Building sites in the business district of Calexico are held 
at $150 to $200 per front foot. Residence lots, 50x140 feet, 
can be bought for $300 to $400, and in restricted sections 
for $500 to $600. 

Farm land on the American side can be obtained in tracts 
from 5 to 1000 acres at $100 to $200 an acre, the higher price 
being that of highly improved small tracts close to the town. 
Farms of 80 to 160 acres, with water stock and under culti- 
vation, may be bought at $100 to $150 an acre, according to 
location. 

On the Mexican side there is very little land for sale, 
but land may be rented in tracts of from 100 to 10,000 acres 
at $10 an acre per year. The soil in the Calexico region, 
on both sides of the line, is a sandy loam, free from alkali 
and other mineral salts, easily worked and very fertile. 
Ranches in this part of the valley have the important ad- 
vantage of being at the head of the distributing canal system, 
which insures first delivery of water from the mains. 



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IGIOUS, SOCIAL AND OTHER PUBLIC USES. HIGH SCHOOL. AT LEFT, IS IN PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTION 




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Am Eiffilaiffid Emmpnird ©f Enckimciii 



By E. F. H©w© 



E may believe that migratory families in a far age 
settled on the banks of the Tigris, Euphrates and 
Nile, built their irrigation canals, and in the course 
of some thousands of years formulated their concepts of 
civilization and consciously laid the foundation of empire. 

And you may say the same thing of Imperial Valley, ex- 
cept that here the same methods and the same purposes 
have been quickened by modern knowledge and civilization 
and American zeal and initiative, for here the progress of 
millenniums has l>een condensed into fourteen years. 

When this century opened there was not a fi.xed resident 
in what is now Imperial County. There were not fifty 
people in that area, and they but transient railroad employes. 

Now the county has fifty thousand persons, ten towns 
ranging from SOO to 6,000 inhabitants each, it has one high 
school costing $200,000, four others costing about $65,000 
each, fifty grammar schools, thirteen banks, five daily and 
five weekly newspapers, its property values reach seventy- 
five million dollars and the value of its products runs close 
to twenty millions. 

Imperial is the leading county in the state in butter pro 
duction and the leading county in the nation in the produc- 
tion of cantaloupes, turkeys and honey. 

It ships sixty thousand head of fat cattle tn market in 



a year, two hundred thousand head of fat hogs and seventy- 
five thousand head of fat sheep. 

It produces fifty thousand bales of cotton worth from $50 
to $75 per bale and three-quarters of a million sacks of 
barley. 

It produces asparagus and grapes for a month before other 
sections enter into competition, and half of the land in 
America adapted to date growing is in this valley. 

That the men and women who have brought about this 
change from the most complete of deserts in fourteen years 
are proud of their accomplishment is not strange. 

And yet much as has been done, they recognize, as all 
persons must, that Imperial Valley has not yet come into 
its own. So vast are the possibilities of achievement that 
what has been done is but a beginning. 

In this valley there are 400,000 acres under irrigation in 
the United States, while in that part of the valley lying 
in Mexico there is an additional 100.000 acres irrigated. 
Eventually there will be 650,000 acres in the United States 
and 600,000 acres in Mexico in one compact body of irrigated 
land, with ample water in the Colorado river for the irriga- 
tion of the entire area. 

Imperial County was created from the eastern half of 
San Diego County, and borders Arizona on the east and 




1mmin:iimIs i»t' ll<-:iil of t'nttic :ir«' Fattfiu'd uii (^'otton Soofl Prnfliiots at Culexieo. 



C ALEXICO 




Wiiter IN Kiu}; iu tlie litipcriiil Vnlley. 



Mexico on the south. It is as a strictly agricultural region 
that it is winning fame, and its fame rests not more on the 
fact of its vast proportions than on the rare climatic condi- 
tions that make it a true Egypt, plus American institutions. 

The average land holding is 100 acres, with a constant 
tendering to subdivision, with corresponding drift toward 
those lines of production which stand for the highest 
acreage revenue. 

As already indicated, the institutions of civilization have 
been well established, there being, in order of population, 
the towns of El Centro (county seat), Brawley, Calexico, 
Imperial, Holtville, Calipatria, Seeley, Heber, Dixieland and 
Niland. 

The county is connected with the outside world by the 
Southern Pacific railroad, having a branch line through the 
valley, and it will have further connection by the San Diego 
and Arizona railroad, now under construction. It also has 
a paved state highway well advanced in construction, con- 
necting San Diego and El Centro, while special state appro- 
priations have been made for a liighway from Los Angeles 
to the valley and on to Yuma, 

Irrigation Water Supply 

The greatest river in all the Southwest is the Colorado, 
draining the territory west of the Rocky Mountains almost 
from Canada to Mexico, and carrying in the course of a 
year sixteen million acre feet, or enough water to irrigate 
five million acres if distributed according to needs through- 
out the year. And nature does do a good deal to adjust 
the river to the needs, for the heaviest flow is in the sum- 
mer months, when most needed. Like the Nile, the flood 
of summer runs almost as true as the calendar, the crest 
passing Yuma, Arizona, year after year within a week of 
June 20th. 

The water for Imperial Valley is diverted from the river 
just north of the international line, and to avoid a chain of 
hills it makes a long crescent sweep through Mexican ter- 
ritory and back into the United States. 

The main water channel was originally owned by the 
California Development Company, but the people on the 



American side of the line have organized the Imperial 
Irrigation District, under the laws of California and will 
acquire the main canal system in both countries. 

There were organized originally a number of mutual water 
companies, now increased to thirteen, the farmers holding 
one share for each acre. These companies each contracted 
perpetually to purchase water from the parent company to 
meet the needs of their respective stockholders, each com- 
pany covering a distinct area. 

In acquiring the irrigation system, the district does not 
disturb the relationship of the mutual companies to the 
main supply system, but will give to the farmers the benefit 
of co-operation in the diversion as well a« the distribution of 
the water, without profit. 

In Mexico, the water is taken from the same main canal, 
but by the individual owners of the large tracts. 

As the main canal sweeps through Mexico, it is tapped 
by a number of smaller canals, which lead to the districts 
of the respective companies, where it is further distributed 
to ditches known as laterals, and is thus led to the individual 
farms, delivery of water being made at the higliest corner 
of each farm. 

Approximately 380.000 acres are now under irrigation on 
the American side of the line, or a much larger area than is 
irrigated in all the other seven counties of Southern Cali- 
fornia combined. 

The average cost of irrigation water throughout the valley 
is about $3.50 an acre a year, this varying somewhat with 
the nature of the crop grown, the character of the soil and 
tlie care or negligence of the irrigator. 

Aside from the value of the water for irrigation, it carries 
great values in plant food, and the fertilizer qualities of the 
water, at commercial rates, is estimated at fully twice the 
cost of the water service. 

Since the people who use the water will hereafter have 
its management, it is certain that no pains will be spared 
to give amply from the abundance of water available and 
with the pronii)tness that the best results in irrigation de- 
mand. 



10 



C ALEXI CO 



Stage of Development 

How far has development gone in Imperial Valley? This 
is a question that is often asked, for many persoris wish 
to avoid too new a country, while others seek to be pioneers. 

As stated, there will eventually be 650,000 acres of culti- 
vated land on the American side of the line, of which prob- 
ably 500,000 acres is now in personal ownership, while the 
remainder is withdrawn from settlement by the government 
and an uncertain period will elapse before it is restored 
to filing privilege. It is therefore impossible to secure land 
otherwise than by purchase. 

The pioneer period has brought people from every state in 
the Union and from almost every foreign country, and of 
necessity there has grown up with the cosmopolitan popula- 
tion all degrees of success. 

The practical farmer who personally directs his farm is 
making big profits from the perpetual output of the soil, but 
the impractical man who invests in land for a speculation 
and leaves it to the first applicant who appears without re- 
gard to his knowledge of farming, sobriety or industry, 
often fails, just as the same methods would bring failure 
anywhere in any business. 

The valley can therefore be said to be in a state of evolu- 
tion, in which the indolent or impractical or intemperate 
are being eliminated, while in their places are coming other 
staid and industrious citizens, and the personnel of the 
valley is improving from year to year. 

I\'leanwhile there is a steady tendency to subdivide the 
larger holdings, and many farms of from twenty to eighty 
acres are being created out of larger holdings on the 
American side. This implies a steady transformation from 
barley and cotton fields to alfalfa, dairy cattle, hogs, gar- 
dening and fruit growing. 

On the Mexican side of the line the situation is entirely 
different. There are a few great holdings of land, and this 
is mainly farmed under lease, sometimes in fields each of 
thousands of acres. It is there not a question of home 
making, but of profits from big acreage, and consequently 
cotton has taken possession of practically the entire irrigated 



area. Further down the peninsula there are great valleys 
in which large droves of cattle are pastured. 

Climatic Conditions 

The day will come when the ideal climate of Imperial 
Valley will make this region one of the most famous of 
pleasure and health resorts. 

When the reader has caught his breath we will proceed. 
It is a common practice to speak of this valley as a natural 
hot house, but that e.xpression refers to June, July, August 
and September, just as one might speak of Chicago as having 
Arctic climate — during the winter. 

There is this difference. During the unpleasant cold 
period of the north, nature is dormant, but during the un- 
pleasant hot months here nature is as productive as during 
the other eight months. There is no stagnant period in 
the year, while for eight months no land on earth can excel 
this for delightful weather. 

As for health, any climate in which people instinctively 
live out of doors is a healthy climate, and they do that 
here. Even when indoors, the windows and doors are ever 
open, and almost all people sleep throughout the year on 
screen porches. 

And the summers are just as healthful as the winters, 
though even the natives do not recommend the summer 
months for pleasure. The weather then is hot. The worst 
days are not so bad as the worst days in New York or 
Chicago. There is no feeling of suffocation here — no gasp- 
ing for breath. The sense of heat is external, not internal. 
The average person drinks about three gallons of water a 
day. and that comes through the pores continuously. It 
flushes out the body and cures many a chronic ailment. 
The rapid evaporation of the moisture tends to cool the 
body, and prevents fever heat. 

During the summer the typical day begins with mercury 
at 70 at sunrise and it rises steadily to 105 in the after- 
noon, then steadily declines. There may be two or three 
days in the summer when it will reach 112. During the four 
months there probably will not be a day when mercury fails 
to reach 95. 




Imperial A'ulley liii.s Hundreds of Miles of Splendid lliiiidN. 



C ALEXIC O 



11 



ITnpe^^ial Valley 



Flooding Newly Planted Alfalfa Field 




Turning the nesert into the Giirdeu of I0< 



But tliese figures are deceiving, although correct. The 
sensible temperature, or the temperature under evaporation, 
is heat as one feels it. In humid air there is but five or 
ten degrees difiference between sensible and dry-bulb tem- 
perature, while here, in summer, there is a difference of from 
thirty to thirty-five degrees. That is why 105 degree tern 
perature here feels like 80 degree temperature in other 
places. 

The Dairy Industry 

Until Imperial Valley began its rapid advance in the 
dairy industry, Humboldt and Stanislaus counties led in 
California, each of those counties now having butter pro- 
duction somewhat over five million pounds a year. But 
Imperial Valley has taken the lead, having production of 
7,400,000 pounds of butter a year, valued at $2,500,000. It is 
the only big butter producing county in the southern half 
of the State. 

The chief market for this product is Los Angeles and 
neighboring cities, and for the first time in history Southern 
California has become somewhat near self-supporting in but- 
ter consumption. 

Yet the butter production of this valley continues to in- 
crease at from 25 to 35 per cent a year, and the possibilities 
of the industry run far ahead of the present achievement. 

The fact is that the prospects are good for the valley 
shipping to the northward and eastward in time a great 
portion of its output, for the Chicago market is enough 
advanced over that of Los Angeles much of the time to 
cover the cost of transportation. 

No where else can butter be produced so cheaply as here. 
For twelve months in the year there is the finest of pastur- 
age. The open-air life is as healthful for cattle as for man, 
there being practically no losses, while the grains and by- 
products of the cotton oil mills provide cheaply the perfec- 
tion of balanced rations for butter production. 

The monthly "cream checks" falling into the hands of 
the dairymen from the many creameries of the valley furnish 
a steady flow of money that has added immeasurably to the 
great prosperity of the county, and this prosperity is shared 



by Cale.xico and all the other towns of the valley. 

There is a constant tendency to improve the standing of 
the milch cow herds, and many a thoroughbred, purchased at 
high cost, has been brought from distant states, and this 
upbreeding is adding to the profit of those interested in 
the industry. 

Fruit Possibilities 

It is probably better to speak of horticulture and vini- 
culture as of the future than of the present, for although 
there has been much demonstrated, the present production 
is so small relative to the possibilities, that the big develop- 
ment lies mainly ahead. 

California is already famous for its citrus, deciduous and 
adeciduous horticulture and for viniculture. Taking a place 
in all these lines, and a peculiar place. Imperial Valley has 
added palmacious fruit — the date — to the list. 

It seems probable, too, that this would be a fine lime pro- 
ducing section. 

In deciduous fruits the best monetary returns per tree 
are probably from jiears, the trees seemingly adapting them- 
selves well to this climate and soil, little influenced by the 
variations of irrigation, and producing well. The apricot 
tree more sensitive to irrigation, but when properly cared 
for produce generously, and the fruit ripens early in June, 
being the first in the markets, and consequently commanding 
a good price. 

Some varieties of early peaches do finely. 

The fig finds its natural home here, and like the thrifty 
voter, is to be found "early and often." Many varieties of 
both white and purple figs have been successfully grown. 

The olive is alone in the adeciduous class, and is makin.g 
a record for productiveness which is not surpassed in any 
other region, though the acreage is yet small. 

The grape is destined to be one of the great products of 
the valley, tliough under peculiar conditions that impose 
problems. Those problems are in part now solved. Early 
plantings were mainly of the varieties made familiar by 
other sections of California, but of those varieties the Malaga 
alone proved of value. This fine grape ripens about July 



12 



C ALEXIC O 



lOth, a month earlier than in other sections of the state. 
The Purple Damascus is another magnificent grape that 
ripens at about the same period. It is unfortunate, however, 
that about mid-July there is frequently a light rain, which 
is sufficient to ruin the crop. A solution of this difficulty 
is being found in the production of two or more varieties 
of Persian grapes, notably those known as No. 21 and No. 23. 
X'atives of a country with a climate similar to this valle}', 
these excellent grapes are finely adapted to this section, and 
they have the advantage of ripening about July 1, and 
yielding their main crop before the arrival of the mid-sum- 
mer rain. 

Being able to place excellent table grapes on the markets 
more than a month before they come from any other Ameri- 
can vineyards, it becomes an almost mathematical certainty 
that this eventually will be one of the great industries of 
the region. 

The date, in the belief of many persons, eventually will 
be to this valley what the orange is to Riverside, the raisin 
to Fresno and the prune to San Jose. And it will be as 
superior to the ordinary date of commerce as the navel 
orange is to the seedling. 

There are countless varieties of dates to be found in North 
Africa and Arabia, but they can be divided into two main 
groups, the thick and the thin skinned fruit. 

Only the thick skinned fruits can stand the crude packing 
and transportation methods followed in the countries where 
they are grown, and it is that class of fruit, embracing a 
good many varieties, which reaches this country under the 
commercial names of Fard and Golden dates. 

But the delicate, thin-skinned dates, almost worshipped in 
Africa and Arabia, are practically unknown in American mar- 
kets. It is fruit of this class which Imiperial and Coachella 
valleys is now making famous. In fact, this fruit is more 
like dainty confection than fruit, and the American has no 
difficulty in providing containers in which it can be marketed 
without sustaining injury. 

There is no disposition to spin fancy yarns from Imperial 
Valley cotton. It does that for itself. And one must deal 
gently with this subject, for if the straight truth were 
abruptly told persons familiar with the industry elsewhere 



might doubt its accuracy, while a partial statement might 
itself convey a meaning that would not do justice to the 
subject. 

As yet the greatest cotton production is of the short 
staple, but the medium long staple is an active competitor 
for public favor. 

On the Peter Barnes land lease in Mexico this year there 
was ginned a little more than lO.OOO bales of cotton from 
6500 acres, or a trifle over a bale and a half per acre. There 
are individual growers on smaller tracts who have grown 
more than two bales of SCO pounds each to the acre. Taking 
10 cents as the average price, two bales would give a gross 
return of $100 per acre, to which there would be added, in 
the average year, $15 for a ton of seed. 

Taking the same maximum production of Durango cotton, 
at 15 cents, the gross returns would be $150 an acre, plus 
$15 for seed. 

If this is to be taken as the best production by the man 
who is master of the industry, the reader will wish to 
know the result with the average man who knows how to 
grow cotton, and the Peter Barnes lease (referred to above), 
is probably a fair case, that being two-thirds of the maximum 
given. 

As the industry has been expanding rapidly, it has drawn 
in some men who did not know the business, and a few 
made complete failures. 

The 600,000 acres in Mexico which before many j-ears will 
all be under irrigation, can be said to have a productive 
capacity of about a million bales a year, worth fifty million 
dollars, with seven and a half millions added for seed. 

As Durango cotton may yet gain the mastery, its possible 
productive value can be estimated at seventy-five million 
dollars. 

It might be thought that the labor question in the cotton 
fields would be difficult to solve, but this is not the case. 
On the Mexican side of the line are many Chinese laborers, 
not allowed to come into the United States, and these, with 
Mexicans and negroes, meet all the requirements at very 
moderate wages. 

As cotton has become the leading factor in making the 
city of Calexico, it is well to begin a review of the agricultur- 



Imperial Vnllcv five-year -old Grape Fruit Orcliarcl 
Netted S75O per acr( 




C ALEXICO 




Three TraiiiNnicK "l' Fat Cattle are Shipped from IinpiTial ^ jilley o:iili « eek. 



al calendar with this staple. It is in March and April that 
the old plants are cut down to within six inches of the ground 
and the irrigation water turned on. This "volunteers" the 
next crop from the stumps of the old, and this "vouluteered" 
crop is ready for first picking in September. For the new 
acreage the planting season is in March, April and May, 
and picking begins in October. There is no rush to harvest 
the crop, as there are no rains to damage it, and picking 
of cotton is continuous from September 1st to March ISth, 
or throughout more than half of the year. This long picking 
season in great part solves the labor problem. 

The calendar year opens with barley fields being pastured, 
and after the fields have been eaten down two or three times, 
the grain is allowed to mature, and harvest continues through 
May and June. 

The first cutting of alfalfa is in March and eight or nine 
cuttings are made, the last in November, this crop growing 
but slightly during the winter months. 

The asparagus shipping season begins in March, when 
numerous carloads are sent to eastern cities. 

In May and June from 4000 to 5000 carloads of cantaloupes 
are shipped from valley points to eastern markets. 



Fat cattle, hogs and sheep are shipped heavily throughout 
the year. 

The valley produces more than seven million pounds of 
butter a year, and that is shipped daily. 

The big harvest of Egyptian corn is in September and 
October, this being in greatest part fed in the valley, as are 
the cotton seed husks and meal, by-products in the making 
of oil. 

The heaviest grape shipments are during the first half 
of July — a month earlier than from any other American dis- 
trict. 

Apricots and figs ripen in June, the former having a brief 
period, but the fig trees continuing to produce crops through 
the summer. 

Dates (and the finest on earth) ripen in October and 
November. 

Garden vegetables can be produced in any month in the 
year. 

The tendency here, as in most parts of California, is for 
the farmer to specialize on one product, diversity of produc- 
tion on the individual farm being the exception. 



COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY 

THE FARMERS AND MERCHANTS CLUB 

IN CONJUNCTION WITH 

THE BOARD OF CITY TRUSTEES 

OF CALEXICO 



FARMERS AND MERCHANTS CLUB 

DIRECTORS 

S. T. TYLER 

WM. GUNTERMANN 

ROBERT G. GOREE 



CITY OF CALEXICO 



OFFICERS 

ROBERl G. GOREE. President 
ALLEN KELLY. Secrelary 
W. T. AITKEN, Treasurer 



A. M SHENK 
L. F. MARTIN 
CLARK POTTER 



CITY TRUSTEES 

A. r. BASKIN 
J. A. DONALDSON P. E. CARR 
E. G. BURDICK J. C. PACE 



OFFICERS 

EDWARD B, BROWNE. City Clerk 
CLARK POrrER. City Treasurer 
HARRY E. FOSTER. City Engineer 



For further information about CALEXICO or the IMPERIAL VALLEY addre.s the Secretary of the FARMERS & MERCHANTS CLUB 



017 169 333 



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